You’ve likely heard of chile relleno, basically “stuffed chili pepper”, which usually refers to the iconic Mexican dish of roasted poblano peppers stuffed with cheese, then lightly battered and fried. What if you had it in a casserole format? What we’ve done here for this recipe is take all of those wonderful ingredients from chile relleno and we’re turning it into a casserole dish.

Why I Love This Recipe

What’s great about Chile Relleno Casserole is that it’s all cooked up in a single pan, making it a very easy meal to prepare and serve. Everything is cooked and layered up, then baked. Just serve it right out of the pan. I also love that you can serve it as a breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner. It’s an anytime meal.

How to Make Chile Relleno Casserole – the Recipe Steps

First, set your oven to broil. Slice the poblano peppers in half lengthwise and place them on a lightly oiled baking sheet, skin sides up.

Broil the poblanos about 15 minutes, until the skins char and blacken. They should puff up. Remove, cool slightly, then peel off the skins and discard them along with the seeds and stems. I like to include jalapeno peppers as well, to make it a touch more spicy.

Cook the vegetables. While the poblanos are roasting, heat a 10-inch oven proof skillet to medium heat and add the olive oil. Add the onion and jalapeno and cook them down about 5 minutes to soften them up.

Add the garlic and cook another minute, until you can smell the awesome garlic. One of my favorite smells in the kitchen.

Add the tomatoes, oregano, paprika, ancho powder, cumin and salt and pepper. Break apart the tomatoes and stir. Cook for 10 minutes on medium-low, until the tomatoes soften up and the mixture becomes saucy. You can simmer longer if you’d like. Scoop the sauce into a glass bowl and set it aside for now.

Heat your oven to 350 degrees F.

In the same 10-inch skillet (or you can use a baking dish or casserole dish), spoon half of the sauce into the bottom of the pan.

Layer in half of the roasted poblano strips.

Layer in half of the shredded cheese.

Add the remaining sauce, then remaining poblano peppers, then most of the remaining cheese.

Next, beat the eggs with the remaining cheese and pour the mixture over the top of the casserole.

Bake the casserole for 25 minutes, or until the egg sets and the cheeses are nice and melty.

Remove and garnish with spicy chili flakes and fresh herbs.

Serve it with warmed tortillas. I enjoyed the leftovers the next day, just reheated, popped some onto warmed flour tortillas with hot sauce. Hot sauce is a must!

Recipe Tips & Notes

The Peppers. I used poblano peppers here, as they are traditional for chiles rellenos, but you can use Hatch peppers, Anaheim peppers, any larger green peppers that can be roasted. You can also make this with canned green chilies. If you’re looking for a spicier version of this recipe, feel free to bring in a serrano pepper, or a few of them. Or cook down some smaller hotter peppers, like a habanero pepper, when you cook the onion.

Leftovers. I enjoyed the leftovers the next day – I just reheated the dish, popped some onto warmed flour tortillas and enjoyed them with hot sauce. Delicious!

Additional Ingredients. Want to make this a fuller meal? Incorporate some shredded chicken or cooked ground beef or pork for a protein, or add refried beans to round it out. You’ll get a heartier dinner this way.

I hope you love this recipe as much as I do. As mentioned, it’s great for an anytime meal, but my favorite time to serve it is for brunch. Let me know how you like it. Enjoy!

If you try this recipe, please let us know! Leave a comment, rate it and tag a photo #ChiliPepperMadness on Instagram so we can take a look. I always love to see all of your spicy inspirations. Thanks! — Mike H.

Instructions

Set your oven to broil. Slice the poblano peppers in half lengthwise and place them on a lightly oiled baking sheet, skin sides up. Broil the poblanos about 15 minutes, until the skins char and blacken. They should puff up. Remove, cool slightly, then peel off the skins and discard them along with the seeds and stems.

Slice the poblanos into strips and set them aside.

While the poblanos are roasting, heat a 10-inch oven proof skillet to medium heat and add the olive oil.

Add the onion and jalapeno and cook them down about 5 minutes to soften.

Add the garlic and cook another minute, until you can smell the awesome garlic.

Add the tomatoes, oregano, paprika, ancho powder, cumin and salt and pepper. Break apart the tomatoes and stir. Cook for 10 minutes on medium-low, until the tomatoes soften up and the mixture becomes saucy. You can simmer longer if you’d like. Scoop the sauce into a glass bowl.

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

In the same 10-inch skillet (or you can use a baking dish or casserole dish), spoon half of the sauce into the bottom of the pan. Layer in half of the roasted poblano strips and half of the shredded cheese.

Add the remaining sauce, then remaining poblano peppers, then most of the remaining cheese.

Next, beat the eggs with the remaining cheese and pour the mixture over the top of the casserole.

Bake for 25 minutes, or until the egg sets and the cheeses are nice and melty.

Remove and garnish with spicy chili flakes and fresh herbs.

Notes

Serve it with warmed tortillas. I enjoyed the leftovers the next day, just reheated, popped some onto warmed flour tortillas with hot sauce. YUM!!

NEVER MISS A RECIPE

10 comments

Hi Mike, this recipe is spot on! I made this on 12.8.19 for breakfast and it is absolutely delicious. We have family coming for Christmas and this dish will be served for breakfast a time or two! Thanks for sharing your madness.

Tony, if you have a specific source for this, I’d love to review it. Otherwise, everything I’ve learned and read is that poblanos are traditional, but other peppers can be easily used, such as Hatch chiles, Anaheims, pasillas and even jalapeno. It could depend on the region. I appreciate the comments!

I think it depends on what part of the country your in and what is traditional for your family. My Mom made the best chile rellenos, stuffed with Longhorn cheese, using Anaheim peppers. But, I’ve known other people who made them with Poblabnos. Naturally, they weren’t as good as what my mom made, but they were still good. Great recipe btw,

Reply

WELCOME!

Hi, Everyone! I'm Mike, your chilihead friend who LOVES good food. I love it spicy, and hopefully you do, too. Here you'll find hundreds of spicy recipes of all levels, some with a little, some with a LOT, but everything is adjustable to your personal tastes. You'll also learn a lot about chili peppers and seasonings, my very favorite things.